Form 8453-EO: Filing, Signing, and Submission Rules

Form 8453-EO was the signature authorization that tax-exempt organizations attached to an electronically filed return through tax year 2020. Beginning with tax year 2021, the IRS replaced it with Form 8453-TE (Tax Exempt Entity Declaration and Signature for Electronic Filing), which covers a broader list of returns but works the same way.¹ If you are filing for 2020 or earlier, use 8453-EO. For any current-year return, use 8453-TE. The instructions below apply to both.

When You Need to File It

You use the form when your organization e-files its annual return and does not sign electronically with a PIN. Filers who prepare and transmit their own returns without a third-party provider must use the form to sign.² Organizations that work with an Electronic Return Originator (ERO) or an online provider can also use it if they prefer a written signature over a PIN.

The signed form does more than authenticate the return. It authorizes the ERO or intermediate service provider to transmit the return through a third-party transmitter, and it can authorize an electronic funds withdrawal to pay any federal tax owed on the 990-PF, 990-T, 1120-POL, 4720, 5330, or a Form 8868 filed with a payment.¹

Which Returns It Covers

On the current 8453-TE, you check one box in Part I to identify the return you are authenticating. The covered returns are:

Form 990, the standard annual return for organizations with gross receipts of $200,000 or more or total assets of $500,000 or more.³
Form 990-EZ, for organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000.⁴
Form 990-PF for private foundations.
Form 990-T for unrelated business income.
Form 1120-POL for certain political organizations.
Form 4720 for excise taxes under Chapters 41 and 42 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Form 8868, the automatic extension application.
Form 5227, the split-interest trust information return.
Form 5330 for excise taxes on employee benefit plans.
Form 8038-CP for credit payments to issuers of qualified bonds.¹

The older 8453-EO covered a shorter list. If you are filing for 2020 or an earlier year, pull the version dated for that year to confirm the return you need to authenticate is on it.

Filling Out Part I

Part I is a one-page grid. Enter your organization’s nine-digit Employer Identification Number and the tax year at the top, check the box for the return type, and enter a single financial figure from the corresponding line of that return. The line references on the 2025 Form 8453-TE are:⁵

Form 990: total revenue from Part VIII, column (A), line 12.
Form 990-EZ: total revenue from line 9.
Form 1120-POL: total tax from line 22.
Form 990-PF: tax based on investment income from Part V, line 5.
Form 8868: balance due from line 3c.
Form 990-T: total tax from Part III, line 4.
Form 4720: total tax from Part III, line 1.
Form 5227: fair market value of assets at end of tax year from item D.
Form 5330: tax due from Part II, line 19.
Form 8038-CP: amount of credit payment requested from Part III, line 22.

Pull the figure from the finalized electronic return, not a draft. The IRS uses this number to confirm that the signed authorization matches the transmitted data, and even a one-dollar mismatch can bounce the return back.

Who Can Sign

Only an authorized officer can sign for a corporation: the president, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, chief accounting officer, or another corporate officer with signing authority for the organization.⁶ For a trust, the authorized trustee signs. For an organization in receivership, the receiver, trustee, or assignee signs.

The signature carries a perjury declaration that the signer has examined a copy of the electronic return and its schedules and believes everything is true, correct, and complete.⁵ Willfully filing a fraudulent return is a felony under 26 U.S.C. 7206.⁷ The officer should actually review the return before signing rather than treat the form as paperwork the preparer hands over at the last minute.

If an ERO prepared or is originating the return, the ERO must also sign the form. A paid preparer who is not the ERO completes the separate Paid Preparer Use Only section at the bottom.⁵

How You Submit It

You do not mail this form. Scan the signed original to a PDF, then attach it to the electronic return before transmission. Your tax software will have a designated attachment slot; label it “8453 Signature Document” in the software’s attachment description.⁸ The IRS does not accept paper copies mailed in separately.

The officer must sign and date the form before the ERO transmits. An ERO is required to originate the electronic submission as soon as possible after receiving the signed form.⁸ Build enough time into the schedule for the officer to review and sign before the filing deadline.

How Long to Keep It

EROs and other e-file providers must keep a copy of the signed form until the end of the calendar year in which the return was filed. For fiscal-year filers, the deadline is nine months after the fiscal year return was filed, whichever is later.⁸ The form instructions also require that books and records related to the form be kept as long as they may be material to IRS administration of any tax law.⁵

The organization should keep its own copy alongside the return, not rely on the ERO’s file. Three years from the filing date is a reasonable minimum, matching the standard IRS assessment window.

Mistakes That Cause Rejections

The form is short, but small errors get returns kicked back. The frequent ones:

A financial figure on the form that does not exactly match the transmitted return.
The wrong return-type box checked.
A blank tax year at the top.
Using an outdated version. For tax year 2021 or later, use 8453-TE. The IRS will not accept an obsolete version for a current year. Download the current form from irs.gov.¹
A signature from someone who is not an authorized officer. A board member without an officer title, or a staff accountant, cannot sign. If the IRS treats the return as unsigned, it is treated as unfiled for penalty purposes.

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8453-TE, Tax Exempt Entity Declaration and Signature for Electronic Filing
2
Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations E-file – Signing Return
3
Internal Revenue Service. Annual Form 990 Filing Requirements for Tax-Exempt Organizations
4
Internal Revenue Service. Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File Filing Phase In
5
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Form 8453-TE
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7206 – Fraud and False Statements
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Internal Revenue Service. Publication 4163 – Modernized E-File Guide for Software Developers and Transmitters